Varadkar: Government better prepared than ever for severe weather

The government says it is better prepared than ever before to deal with severe weather conditions this winter.

The Task Force on Emergency Planning held a meeting in Dublin this morning to assess the preparations in place.

A special website has been set up, winterready.ie, to provide practical advice and information to the public.

The Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says lessons were learned during the cold snaps in 2009 and 2010: "We are better prepared than ever before. Having said that, and as we've seen from recent events in America, no government is more powerful than mother nature.

"Meetings like this one today are held regularly to ensure the government, transport agencies and companies and all other relevent arms of the state are ready for an emergency.

"This year we can safely say our transport operators are better prepared."